By Michael Kim
The day had started out unpromisingly rainy and foggy, and the soggy ground smelled like roots. I was even thinking that the last few golden leaves still clinging to the maple trees looked like the first bloom of spring forsythia. At five o’clock, an hour before our dinner’s start time, the sun came out. I still had to towel dry the cement floor of my porch, which held so much condensation from the tumbling fog. When my friends pulled up, a herd of a dozen deer elegantly glided across the street and melted into my back garden, among confused periwinkle blossoms.
Ingredients:
A medium-sized butternut squash, peeled and roughly chopped
A medium-sized cooking apple or firm pear, peeled and roughly chopped
A medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped
2-3 tablespoons ghee, clarified butter or sunflower oil
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups vegetable stock
1 cup water
Spice mix (makes extra for other uses, like oatmeal):
1 teaspoon each of ground ginger, ground cinnamon, and ground fenugreek
½ teaspoon of ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon each of ground cloves and nutmeg
Optional garnishes:
Coconut milk
Roasted spiced pumpkin seeds
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You’ll need three things from the farmers’ market: a good-sized butternut squash obviously, a pretty macintosh apple, and a pert yellow onion. Peel and chop everything. The squash can be in 2-inch chunks. The apple and onion should be diced, which makes it easier to sauté so that they caramelize slightly, but nothing need be elegantly cut. This is all going to be puréed á la immersion blender.
Heat 3 tablespoons of ghee in a heavy pot. When it’s melted and hot, add the onion and sauté until you see the very first spot of reddish-brown. Add the apples and toss together. It should smell like heaven. Then, make it smell like some exoplanetary palace of sensual delights by adding a 1½ teaspoons of the spice mix. Immediately add the butternut squash and turn to coat the pieces. Toss in a teaspoon or so of salt, and pour in 5 cups of vegetarian broth and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the squash is tender.
Purée.
I serve this with a spiral of coconut milk in the serving dish and then a garnish of roasted, spiced pumpkin seeds in each bowlful.
To prepare the pumpkin seeds:
Heat the oven to 300 degrees F. Tumble a half cup of raw seeds with a drizzle of olive oil and of lemon juice, some sprinkles of salt and ground cumin. Spread them on a foil-lined baking sheet, and put them in the oven for 10 minutes, stirring them up about halfway through the roasting.
Stir up gratitude in the mouthful.